In the latest bump on Finland’s rocky road from Swedish and Russian duchy to independent nation, the newly-crowned Frederick, German-born and the brother-in-law of Kaiser Wilhelm II, renounces the Finnish throne after barely two months.

After Finland declared its independence from Russia in December 1917, a struggle for power began within the country. While government forces worked to disarm and expel the remaining Russian troops, the socialist Red Guard rebelled in late January 1918, seeking to spread a Bolshevik-inspired revolution. The clash between the Reds and the Whites, as government troops were known, ended in victory by the government, due in part to the assistance of German troops sent by the Kaiser to southern Finland.

In an effort to reestablish order in the form of monarchal government, conservative forces, in league with the Germans, gave the throne to Frederick, a German prince, in October 1918. His coronation was seen as a confirmation of the close relations between Finland and Germany. After the war ended on November 11, however, the choice of Frederick as a ruler no longer seemed viable. The Kaiser had abdicated two days earlier, and Germany itself was no longer a monarchy. Moreover, it seemed unlikely that the triumphant Allied powers would look kindly upon a German prince on the throne in Finland. In light of these considerations, Frederick abdicated on December 14, leaving the way clear for the Finnish parliament to adopt a new republican constitution in July of the following year.

French pressure on British to take the initiative
Based on information that the enemy was reducing his strength in the West, French Commander in Chief Joffre directed his Armies to be ready to renew the offensive. On 7th December 1914 he sent a letter to General Foch, with a copy to Sir John French, with instructions that they should proceed with partial attacks in the Yser area and around Ypres without waiting for final preparations.

8th Brigade is ordered to attack
Urged on by pressure from the French to renew the offensive on the Western Front, British GHQ called a commanders conference on 12 December 1914. There would not be a simultaneous attack, but a series of Divisional actions in succession from the left, gradually spreading southwards. The first action would be the capture of Wytschaete and a wood, Petit Bois, in front of it, to be undertaken by French units with the 3rd Division. (This Division had been severely mauled at First Ypres, losing more than 8,000 men in a matter of days, less than a month ago). Success there would be followed by a II Corps attack on Spanbroekmolen, and then Messines. The Divisions were instructed to make no special artillery preparations for cutting barbed wire, although the infantry would be issued with wire-cutters and mattresses with which to climb over this obstacle.

8th Brigade is ordered to attack
For a commentary on the attack made by two battalions of 8th Brigade of 3rd Division, the 1st Gordon Highlanders under Major A.Baird and 2nd Royal Scots under Lt-Col. R. Dundas, we may turn to the diary comment by Billy Congreve. Billy was of military stock; his father a Brigadier-General with a VC. Billy himself was an exceptionally brave man who also later won the VC before being killed on the Somme. He was acting on the staff of the 3rd Division at this time. His comments - written on 15th December 1914 - are acid:

"Yesterday we made an attack and, as we only put two battalions into it, the attack naturally failed. We had about 400 casualties. It is very depressing. I should have thought that we had learnt our lesson at Neuve Chapelle [in October 1914] about unsupported attacks, but it seems not."

"The truth of the matter is this I believe: Sir John French wanted to see the Army on the offensive, so an attack on the Petit Bois was arranged. Then later, for some reason or other, it was decided to also attack Maedelstede Farm. Sir John, Sir H. Smith-Dorrien, HRH the Prince of Wales and many other lights of the Gilded Staff sat about on the Scherpenberg, and watched the preliminary bombardment by ours and the 5th Division's artillery - and then saw these two unfortunate battalions go to more or less certain failure. The reason why? Because it was considered time to be able to report some form of victory. It failed and the reason is obvious".

"A, B, C, D and E are the German trenches - B in Petit Bois and D round Maedelstede Farm. RS are Royal Scots and GH the Gordons. These two battalions were ordered respectively to take the wood and the farm. What happened was that for half an hour or more our guns gave the German trenches a very heavy and accurate fire with shrapnel and a smaller amount of HE. The results of which made the Germans laugh at us. The effect of field gun shrapnel on trenches is almost nil when the trenches are well and carefully made, and there was too little high explosive to do any good. The Germans so little minded this type of bombardment, which to us on the Scherpenberg looked like an inferno, that they kept up a heavy rifle fire the whole time from the bombarded trenches. The two battalions then attacked".

"The Royal Scots actually got into B, taking two machine-guns and 35 prisoners, but they were then so heavily enfiladed from A - and fired on from the back of Petit Bois - that further advance into the wood was impossible. Eventually they had to be content with holding on to part of the captured German trench. This enfilade fire that came from A held up the attack. This could have been found out by a proper reconnaissance before the attack. It was not done and, as A was neither attacked or shelled, the Germans holding it were able to shoot our fellows down one after another".

"The Gordons left their trenches to attack D and E and fared even worse. The mud on the ploughed field which they had to attack over was so bad that they could only just move out of a walk. On leaving their trenches they at once came under a terrible rifle and machine-gun fire from C, D and E. Imagine sending a battalion alone to attack a strongly wired position up a hill and over mud a foot deep, under frontal and enfilade fire. It was a regular Valley of Death. The losses were, of course, very heavy. They were very, very gallant. Some almost reached the German trenches, where they were killed. One or two even got into the trenches where they were killed or captured. A few lay in little depressions in the mud till darkness and then crawled back. Those who got there could send no communication to the supports etc in the rear. several men tried to get back but were all shot. They lost 7 out of 9 officers and 250 men".

"Such was the attack ordered by Sir John French. Next day, I read in the paper 'British troops hurl back Germans at Wytschaete'. A beautiful epitaph for those poor Gordons who were little better than murdered".

The attack had been a complete failure
Following the failure at Wytschaete, none of the other planned attacks followed. Shelling of the German lines merely brought down a much heavier retaliation. Joffre closed down the offensive.

The sacrifice of the Scots battalions proved again the difficulty of an infantry attack upon entrenched positions that had not been suppressed, through barbed wire that was still intact. Next time, more artillery firing more HE, more thorough reconnaissance, wire cutting in advance, better ways to feed messages back - and a wider attack - would be necessary. These lessons were applied at the next serious British attack, at Neuve Chapelle in March 1915.

On this day in 1914, Athens merchants Bernstein Brothers, then located on Broad Street, published an ad in the Athens Daily Herald with the suggestion, "Make This A Furniture Christmas" because "It may be, reader, that you have overlooked the possibilities furniture offers in this direction and if so we invite you cordially to look over our highly suggestive holiday stock."

Specific suggestions "For Father" included a smoking stand, a reclining chair, or a writing desk; "For Mother," a hall mirror, a dressing table, an art square, or a telephone stand. Other gift ideas included "Why Not Give This Ideal Fireless Cook Stove?," "Why Not A Victrola?," and "Rockers Are Very Acceptable Christmas Presents."

Bernstein Brothers started out as furniture makers for the Athens area around the start of the 20th century, and it was not unusual for such businesses to receive orders for coffins as well. Bernstein Brothers started their funeral business in 1911, and are one of the oldest funeral homes in Athens.

Uit: This Day in Athens, A blog from the Athens-Clarke County Library Heritage Room, Athens, Georgia, United States, http://accheritage.blogspot.com/2009/12/14-december-1914-why-not-victrola.html_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

In an act of peaceful secession, Irish people chose to be citizens, not subjects

Such is the drama of violence that it is easy to forget that the most important moment in the creation of an independent Irish State was a democratic election, held on December 14th, 1918. It was by far the biggest exercise in democracy yet staged on the island.

With the end of the first World War opening the way for the first general election in the United Kingdom since 1910, the age of mass democracy was dawning.

The Representation of the People Act almost tripled the Irish electorate from 700,000 in 1910 to 1.93 million in 1918. Women over the age of 30 and working-class men over the age of 21 were allowed to vote for the first time. The results were seismic.

The Irish Parliamentary Party, which had dominated nationalist politics since it was galvanised by Charles Stewart Parnell in the early 1880s, had won 73 of the 105 Irish seats at Westminster in 1910. It held just six in 1918, four of which, in the North, were retained as a result of a pact with Sinn Féin brokered by the Catholic primate Cardinal Logue.

Conversely, Sinn Féin won 73 seats in 1918, with Unionists taking 26, mostly in the northeast (though the unionist candidate also won Rathmines in Dublin). Ironically, Sinn Féin benefited hugely from the Westminster first-past-the-post electoral system – it won nearly three quarters of the Irish seats with just 48 per cent of the vote (65 per cent in what would become the 26 counties).

No opposition - On the other hand, Sinn Féin candidates were returned unopposed in 25 constituencies – in the entire counties of Cork, Clare and Kerry they faced no opposition at all.

But this was more than an electoral landslide. It was an act of largely peaceful secession. The successful Sinn Féin candidates would not be MPs – they would be TDs. They had asked to be elected, in effect, to a parliament that did not exist: an Irish parliament they intended to establish in Dublin. This was, above all, an imaginative and constructive act – it proposed to call into being a new democracy, using the methods of democracy itself.

And it is also all too easy forget, when we think of the big personalities who won seats on that day (Éamon de Valera, Edward Carson, Constance Markievicz, Arthur Griffith, Michael Collins) that it was not they who did it.

No voice - It was primarily people who had had no voice in politics: women, the young and the poor. Not only had they not had a voice but no one in the entire line of their ancestors had ever had one.

The new thing that was happening was being done quietly, in the privacy of the polling booth, by new political actors. It was done by people who remained anonymous to history but who were nonetheless making it.

And we must not lose sight of the fact that this was a reaction, not just to the Easter Rising of 1916 and its transformative effects on public opinion, but to a far greater turmoil: the Great War that had ended just over a month previously. We take this impact for granted now, but we shouldn’t.

It might have been different. John Redmond, the Irish Party leader who died in March 1918, could have been seen in retrospect to have placed a successful bet – he had backed the British empire in 1914 by urging Irishmen to join its armed forces and the empire had won. More than 200,000 Irishmen had joined up: by far the largest military engagement in Irish history.

But this vindication had already turned sour. The 1918 election may have been a post-war event but in Ireland it was decisively shaped by anti-war sentiment.

For most of the conflict, Irishmen had been exempt from conscription. But on April 10th, 1918, in the face of the German Spring offensive, but against the strong advice of even the military authorities in Dublin, Lloyd George’s government gave itself the power to extend conscription to Ireland.

Delegates from across the spectrum of Irish nationalism, at a mass meeting at the Mansion House on April 18th, signed a pledge denouncing this move as “naked militarism” and pledged to “resist conscription by the most effective means at our disposal”.

Tens of thousands of people signed the pledge outside churches on April 21st, and the Irish Trades Union Congress held a successful one-day general strike two days later.

This anti-conscription movement had two huge effects. First, the Irish Party at Westminster was humiliated by its failure to stop the legislation; its claim to hold a decisive influence over the government in London was terribly exposed. Its members walked out of the House of Commons in protest but they were made to look like they were increasingly following, not leading, Irish nationalist opinion.

Hamfisted way - Arthur Griffith’s victory for Sinn Féin over the Irish Party in the East Cavan byelection on June 20th confirmed as much. So, in its own hamfisted way, did the government’s arrest of 73 prominent Sinn Féin members the previous month.

Even more crucially, the Catholic hierarchy, having heard from a deputation from the Mansion House conference, met at Maynooth and issued a public declaration that the Irish people had “a right to resist [conscription] by every means that are consonant with the law of God”.

Even though it seldom features in popular accounts of the transformation of Irish opinion in the lead-up to the 1918 election, this was arguably a bigger and more important shift in nationalist politics even than that wrought by the 1916 Rising.

The Catholic Church was far and away the most influential body in nationalist Ireland. The Mansion House conference had used powerful rhetoric in describing conscription as a “declaration of war on the Irish Nation” and a “direct violation of the right of small nationalities to self-determination”. For the hierarchy to endorse these sentiments and give its blessing to resistance was a decisive development.

This did not mean, of course, that the church was directly backing Sinn Féin. The Irish Parliamentary Party used the same kind of rhetoric in denying the right of Westminster to impose conscription on Ireland: “an outrage and a gross violation of the national right of Ireland.”

But with Maynooth professors publishing articles with titles such as “The Theology of Resistance”, it was not hard even for many of the clergy to conclude that if resistance and national self-determination were the order of the day, the Irish Party was old hat.

Clergy - Fr Walter McDonald, a maverick Maynooth professor, wrote disapprovingly shortly after the 1918 election: “Great numbers of the junior clergy, and a considerable body of their seniors, with some even of the bishops, supported the Sinn Féin candidates, or voted for them. Some of this, I know, was bluff – asking, as I have heard one man put it, for more than they had hoped to get. Others voted Sinn Féin as for the less of two evils. But many of the priests, and perhaps some of the bishops, seem to have acted on the conviction that Ireland is de jure a fully independent nation. Is this really their teaching?”

But this teaching was where the anti-conscription campaign had led. It is striking that, in seeking to capture this anti-war sentiment, Sinn Féin was very careful not to be seen to dishonour the 200,000 Irish soldiers who had already fought and the tens of thousands who had died in British uniform.

In a pamphlet called Ireland’s Case Against Conscription, published under the name of Éamon de Valera (who had been arrested and imprisoned shortly before its publication), the tone is respectful towards the “flower of our manhood”, the “generous Irish youth” who had sacrificed themselves:

“Their bones today lie buried beneath the soil of Flanders, or beneath the waves of Suvla Bay, or bleaching on the slopes of Gallipoli, or on the sands of Egypt or Arabia, in Mesopotamia, or wherever the battle line extends from Dunkirk to the Persian Gulf. Mons, Ypres, will be monuments to their unselfish heroism, but the land they loved dearest on earth… still lies unredeemed at the feet of the age-long enemy.”

In contrast to its later disdain for those who had fought, Sinn Féin’s acknowledgement of their heroism and patriotism surely helped it to appeal to voters disillusioned with the war but deeply attached to the warriors.

It must also be remembered that the Sinn Féin of 1918 was a broad church of nationalists, and not a mere front for what was now being called the Irish Republican Army. Moribund before the Easter Rising, it had now become a genuine mass movement with perhaps as many as 130,000 members.

Young militants - On the one hand, the selection of its candidates was controlled by the young militants, especially Michael Collins and his sidekick Harry Boland. Only three of the party’s candidates had not been gaoled or interned.

But on the other hand, Eoin Mac Neill – who had countermanded the orders for the Rising – was also a prominent figure in the reconstituted party. Its leading propagandist, Fr Michael O’Flanagan, had strongly opposed the Rising and allegedly referred to those who took part as “murderers”.

The remnants of the socialist Citizen Army had been swept up into Sinn Féin – and Labour’s decision to stand aside and give Sinn Féin a clear run was a crucial contributor to its victory.

Most importantly, the new Sinn Féin retained the name of the old one and therefore gave enormous prestige to Arthur Griffith, who had not been involved in the Rising, but whose brand had become attached to it. This mattered because it was Griffith’s long-term policy of passive resistance and of fighting elections on a secessionist platform in order to form an Irish parliament that proved decisive.

Fateful decisions - None of this means that the election of December 1918 can be seen as a pure and untroubled moment at which a fully-formed democracy was born. Labour’s fateful decision to stand aside had consequences from which the Irish left never recovered.

While Sinn Féin did target the new female voters with broad hints of political power in the new Ireland – “in the future the womenfolk of the Gael shall have a high place in the councils of a freed Gaelic nation” – just two of the Sinn Féin candidates were women and just one, Markievicz, was elected.

A pattern of male domination was laid down.

And of course the outcome of the election – the creation of the first Dáil in January 1919 – was a reflection of a bitterly divided “nation”. The Irish Convention, which met between July 1917 and March 1918, had been unable to forge an agreement between nationalists and unionists on the implementation of Home Rule and this effectively ended any hope of an all-Ireland settlement.

Violent rhetoric - De Valera had used violent rhetoric against Ulster unionists, calling them “a rock in the road” that nationalists must “blast… out of their path” and warning them that “as they were in the minority they had nothing to do but give way to the majority”.

This hardly made it any more likely that unionists elected in 1918 would take their seats in the new Irish parliament.

It must be remembered, too, that on the other side, many of the young recruits to the IRA remained deeply sceptical about parliamentary democracy, even after the creation of the Dáil.

Todd Andrews, afterwards a stalwart of Fianna Fáil and the State, recalled his unhappiness at being told, as a member of the IRA, to take an oath of allegiance to the Dáil: “In 1919 parliamentary democracy was a word not so often heard used as abused. The only democracy we knew of was British democracy and that had less than nothing to recommend it to us.”

That ambivalence would grow during the IRA’s guerrilla campaign and ultimately lead to the Civil War.

Unresolved contradictions - And yet, for all these unresolved contradictions and all their consequences of violence, sectarian division and patriarchal oppression, the 1918 election is still an amazing moment.

Ordinary people didn’t just vote – they changed what voting meant in Ireland. In the 26 counties at least, they collectively withdrew from the state they were in and took the great risk of imagining another. And they did it, not by killing anyone but by marking a piece of paper. They voted themselves out of the condition of subjects and into a hope of citizenship.

That hope would be disappointed and betrayed in many ways for many decades. But it never disappeared.

Under strong French pressure to take the initiative, the army was ordered into a series of small piecemeal attacks that proved to be very costly. An example is the attack of 8th Brigade at Wytschaete on 14 December 1914. Cut down by rifle and machine gun fire and unable to enter enemy trenches, the attacking units left many casualties lying in no man's land and on the enemy barbed wire defences.

Based on information that the enemy was reducing his strength in France and Flanders, French Commander in Chief Joffre directed his armies to be ready to renew the offensive. On 7 December 1914 he sent a letter to General Foch, with a copy to Sir John French, with instructions that they should proceed with partial attacks in the Yser area and around Ypres without waiting for final preparations.

Urged on by pressure from the French to renew the offensive on the Western Front, British GHQ called a commanders conference on 12 December 1914. There would not be a simultaneous attack, but a series of Divisional actions in succession from the left, gradually spreading southwards.The first action would be the capture of Wytschaete and a wood, Petit Bois, in front of it, to be undertaken by French units with the 3rd Division. (This Division had been severely mauled at First Ypres, losing more than 8,000 men in a matter of days, less than a month ago). Success there would be followed by a II Corps attack on Spanbroekmolen, and then Messines. The Divisions were instructed to make no special artillery preparations for cutting barbed wire, although the infantry would be issued with wire-cutters and mattresses with which to climb over this obstacle.

8th Brigade is ordered to attack

For a commentary on the attack made by two battalions of 8th Brigade of 3rd Division, the 1st Gordon Highlanders under Major A. Baird and 2nd Royal Scots under Lt-Col. R. Dundas, we may turn to the diary comment by Billy Congreve. Billy was of military stock; his father a Brigadier-General with a VC. Billy himself was an exceptionally brave man who also later won the VC before being killed on the Somme. He was acting on the staff of the 3rd Division at this time. His comments - written on 15 December 1914 - are acid:

"Yesterday we made an attack and, as we only put two battalions into it, the attack naturally failed. We had about 400 casualties. It is very depressing. I should have thought that we had learnt our lesson at Neuve Chapelle [in October 1914] about unsupported attacks, but it seems not. The truth of the matter is this I believe: Sir John French wanted to see the Army on the offensive, so an attack on the Petit Bois was arranged. Then later, for some reason or other, it was decided to also attack Maedelstede Farm. Sir John, Sir H. Smith-Dorrien, HRH the Prince of Wales and many other lights of the Gilded Staff sat about on the Scherpenberg, and watched the preliminary bombardment by ours and the 5th Division's artillery - and then saw these two unfortunate battalions go to more or less certain failure. The reason why? Because it was considered time to be able to report some form of victory. It failed and the reason is obvious".

Lees verder op http://www.1914-1918.net/bat8.htm_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

Brougham's Memorandum of Interview with President Wilson, 14 December 1914

Herbert Bruce Brougham was the editor of the New York Times.
This is an excerpt; the rest of the interview dealt mainly with matters of business and shipping.

The President hopes for a deadlock in Europe. During the half hour I was with him he talked mainly on this subject. He praised The Times for its fair spirit in printing the chief documents of the war, and for its editorial analysis of them. He said he could not forsee what would come of it all, but he thought the greatest advantages for all concerned in the war, including the neutral nations, would accrue from a deadlock that "will show to them the futility of employing force in the attempt to resolve their differences." The rest of what he said I will give as nearly as I can recollect in his own words:

The Powers are making the most tremendous display of force in history. If the result of it all is merely to w[e]ar each other down without coming to a decision, the point will be at length reached when they will be glad to say, we have tried both bluff and force, and since neither could avail, there remains this alternative of trying to reason out our differences according to the principles of right and justice. So I think that the chance of a just and equitable peace, and of the only possible peace that will be lasting, will be happiest if no nation gets the decision by arms; and the danger of an unjust peace, one that will be sure to invite further calamities, will be if some one nation or group of nations succeeds in enforcing its will upon the others.

It may be found before long that Germany is not alone responsible for the war, and that other nations will have to bear a portion of the blame in our eyes. The others may be blamed, and it might be well if there were no exemplary triumph and punishment. I believe thoroughly that the settlement should be for the advantage of the European nations regarded as Peoples and not for any nation imposing its governmental will upon alien peoples. Bismarck was long-headed when he urged Germany not to take Alsace and Lorraine. It seems to me that the Government of Germany must be profoundly changed, and that Austria-Hungary will go to pieces altogether -- ought to go to pieces for the welfare of Europe.

As for Russia, I cannot help sympathizing with its aims to secure natural outlets for its trade with the world, and a proper settlement should permit this.

If the decision is not to be reached wholly by the forces of reason and justice after the trial of arms is found futile, if the decision by arms should be in favor of the nations that are parties of the Triple Entente; I cannot regard this as an ideal solution; at the same time I cannot see now that it would hurt greatly the interests of the United States if either France or Russia or Great Britain should finally dictate the settlement. England has already extended her empire as far as she wants to -- in fact she has got more than she wants -- and she now wishes to be let alone in order that she may bend all her energies to the task of consolidating the ports [parts] of her empire. Russia's ambitions are legitimate, and when she gets the outlets she needs her development will go on and the world will be benefited.

http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Brougham's_Memorandum_of_Interview_with_President_Wilson_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

Did you receive the long letter I sent you in spring? I wrote then, amongst other things, that Mother had died, gave some details of our way of life, etc.[The letter has been lost—Editor]

Now I am writing for one special reason. We shall soon be coming to the end of our former means of subsistence and the question of earning money will become a serious one. It is difficult to find anything here. J have been promised a pupil, but that seems to be slow in materialising. I have also been promised some copying but nothing has come of it. I shall try something else, but it is all very problematic. I have to think about a literary income. I don’t want that side of our affairs to be Volodya’s worry alone. He works a lot as it is. The question of an income troubles him greatly.

This is what I wanted to ask you about. Lately I have been putting in a lot of study on education in general and the history of education in particular, so I am well equipped in this field. I have even written a whole pamphlet, “The Elementary School and Democracy”. The first part of it is ready and is called “The Role of Productive Labour in Public Education”. A hundred odd pages. I think it has turned out quite interesting. I should like to ask you to find me a publisher. I can send the manuscript by return of post if asked for, Perhaps S vobodnoye Vospitaniye or some other publisher would take it. By the way, I have sent an article on Rousseau to Svobodnoye Vospitanlyc. They must have received the letter because they have begun sending me the journal, but I don’t know whether they have received the manuscript. Can you find out whether they got the article and whether it will be published? I shall soon be sending them something on other, more topical subjects.

I asked Rakhil’s brother[L. S. Rivlin.—Editor.] to go to Svobodnoye Vospitaniye, but he has quite a few affairs of his own to look after and is not a very suitable person for such negotiations.

It is a pity, too, that business with the Granats went wrong. Volodya wrote to them in summer[Collected Works, Volume 36, page 317.—Editor.] but got no answer, and so I don’t know whether they left a place for my article "Labour School

what size it should be and by what date it had to be submitted. I am now busy working on the question of apprenticeship. The libraries in Switzerland are, in general, well equipped and work goes well. I also have plenty of time, but the real problem is to find whom to write for. It is difficult to arrange anything from here. Do what you can.

Do you know what has happened to Lidya? I have had no news of her since summer. Is she well? How is she doing?

I write to our people from time to time, although there is nothing much to write about.

I send you many kisses, dear Manyasha, drop me a couple of lines some time. Keep well!

Nadya

Do you ever see Zinaida Pavlovna? Has she completely recovered from the operation? Where are they? What are they doing?

This afternoon a large parcel of mail arrived. Xmas mail. It’s a jolly shame they did not keep it, because half the boys have gone … Puddings, cakes, sweets, tobacco, chocolate, toffee, butterscotch, pipes, handkerchiefs, sox in dozens. Such a food supply has never been seen here before.

Edward Walford Manifold was born on 28th April 1892 and grew up in the Western District of Victoria. He travelled to England to join the Royal Field Artillery when World War I broke out. Day by day, this blog publishes his letters home and the entries he made in his diaries, from 1915 when he was first sent to France until 1918 when his service ends. (To follow on Twitter: manifold1418)

Diary Entry - 14th December, 1915
A good fine morning with a frost, but still a bit sloppy. My day off duty and a really nice day to go into Béthune. At eleven, on going to the guns to see Kellagher, I run into General Sanders, the Colonel (Powell) and the Major and usual attendants in the rear. They have come round to see No. 4 gun with the raised platform. The General is very surprised that we have taken so much off the range by not changing our gun position, as when he made some rapid calculations he made it out that we would only be able to take off 150 yards by raising the gun a foot. However, after looking at the gun pit, he has to acknowledge that his workings must have been faulty and congratulates Kellagher on the job, which is really a fine effort. Today Nos 1, 3 and 4 guns have been raised and so we are safe as regards changing our position. At eleven twenty, as the Major tells me he will be unable to come to the wagon line and gives me some instructions to hand Griffith, I move off for Beuvry, with the groom in the rear. Arrive at wagon line and find Griffith wandering around the horses and rather ruffled - or appears to be. I deliver the messages and proceed to Béthune. I enquire in Béthune the way to the field cashier's office and finally ask an officer who is good enough to take me right to the door of the place. Just as we arrive there a man named Kingston who was at Ipswich appears on the scene and, being so glad to see someone I know, I shake him warmly by the hand as if I was a bosom friend of his. As a matter of fact I don't suppose I spoke more than twenty words to him before but one is so glad to see anyone one knows that they rush the person at once. He shows me the way to the 1st Corps cashier's office after we have partaken of something at a café. Then I asked myself to lunch with him. He takes me round to his billet, which is quite near. On entering the place, I am at once struck with the luxurious apartments consisting of a sitting-room with polished floor very nicely polished and most beautiful bedroom also completely furnished. The luxuries one receives in being posted to an ammunition column! We have a very nice lunch and at two I set out to hunt for 27 Rue St Louis Blanis, where Bee's Mess is, but, after asking some numbers of people, give it up as a bad job and return to the square, where I have arranged to meet the groom. It is about two fifteen by the clock as we ride out of the square. My first impressions of Béthune are much higher than I thought they would be when I journeyed through there in the fog. It looks a quite nice little town and the shops seem to be extraordinarily good. The streets are very windy and narrow – occasionally they open onto squares. The journey home is covered in about an hour and I should reckon the distance is little more than four miles. On arriving at the Mess, I am told that the O.C.'s birthday dinner is to be held tonight instead of tomorrow as there is to be a bit of a show on the 15th -Wednesday. The dinner goes off well and eight sit down at the table (Major Martin Powell, Todd, Quiller Couch and Waldron of the 71s [in the margin in brackets at this point is a word, written in very small letters, that may possibly be 'pills']. The dinner was much the same as the one before and it was 12.45 am before we got to bed.

http://cameronhighlanderscanada.com/43pg7.htm_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

Available here is a sound clip featuring the Austro-Hungarian Emperor, Franz-Josef I. The sound clip presented here - recorded on 14 December 1915 - features Franz-Josef speaking in favour of a military fund established for Austrian widows and orphans (...)

http://www.firstworldwar.com/audio/franzjosef.htm_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

The Sankebetsu brown bear incident, also referred to as the Rokusensawa bear attack, or the Tomamae brown bear incident was the worst bear attack in Japanese history, killing seven settlers in Rokusensawa, Sankebetsu, Tomamae, Rumoi, Hokkaidō, Japan.

The incident took place between December 9 and 14, 1915 after a large brown bear woke up from hibernation and repeatedly attacked several houses in the area.

Born in Glasgow, Scotland on 17 August 1888, Thomas was a butcher by trade (although he was working as a gardener at the time of his enlistment). After emigrating to Canada, he settled in Toronto and enlisted into the Canadian Army on 27 August 1915 (74th Overseas Bn CEF). Thomas was intermittently sick after arriving in the UK and was admitted into hospital where he died on 14 December 1916. He is now buried in Craigton Cemetery in his birth city of Glasgow.

Am in Rabegh - half way between Jidda and Yenbo - tonight, and have just heard that a mail is closing for England. So as I did not write last one here goes this one. I cannot write you details till I reach Egypt, which will not be for some two weeks or so yet. Things very interesting at Yenbo, where is Sherif Feisul, one of the Sons of the Sherif of Mecca. I left there three days ago, and ran down to Jidda, to do a little business am now going back, to stop a few days. Weather delightful, neither hot nor cold, with beautiful winds.

This letter will probably reach you a little after Christmas. I hope it will not be too wet again. All today I have been discussing Arabian geography and politics, which are the local topics. One has forgotten that there are other wars on. If that silk headcloth with the silver ducks on it - last used I believed as a table-cloth - still exists, will you send it out to me? Such things are hard to get here now.

RATCLIFFE, Private Frank of Gisborne, has been recommended for the Victoria Cross for rescuing wounded under fire in the Somme battle.

STAINTON, Lieut W H, who returned on the Ruahine, has been awarded the Military Cross for his services in the field.

DEATHS IN CAMP: Four deaths have occurred in the training camps: DODD, JOHN, L/Cpl, C Company, 22nd Reinforcements; MARSHALL, Norman Hazeldean, Pte, 23rd Mounted Rifles Reinforcement Died at Featherston Military Hospital on Sunday, both from pneumonia following measles.; STEPHENS, Frederick, Pte, died at Trentham on Saturday; MOSS, Frederick James, Pte, died on Sunday – both from septicaemia.

14 December 1916 → Commons Sitting: UNITED STATES (BLOCKADE MEASURES).

Mr. LYNCH asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether it has been represented to him that in many particulars the policy of the Government in regard to the United States has been of an irritating kind, without any compensation corresponding to the danger of producing misunderstandings; whether in future he will keep in view the importance of maintaining the best possible relations with the United States; and whether he will take steps accordingly?

The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Lord Robert Cecil) It is unfortunately inevitable that our blockade measures should cause inconvenience and consequently irritation to citizens of neutral countries, much as we regret it. I can only say that, consistently with the paramount duty of using to the utmost our legitimate belligerent rights, we have done, and shall do, all we can to make their exercise as little burdensome to neutrals as we can. I trust that I may appeal to all patriotic persons not to increase our difficulties on this subject by the use of reckless or intemperate language.

Mr. LYNCH Will the right hon. Gentleman cultivate, not in a formal but m a most assiduous way, good relations with the United States?

Douglas’s father, Rev David Hume, went south to attend the funeral. He wrote a long letter to his wife describing their son’s burial, the procession and full honours given by the Navy.

He stayed on in Kent to find out more details about the circumstances of Douglas’s death to pass on to the family. Someone had made a final entry in Douglas’s diary on the day he died that read, 'Douglas was shot down from steamer (probably Swedish), one of three, near the "Tongue" Lightship, mouth of the Thames. His watch stopped 11.13 am. Wireless man also killed.'

57 Netherhall Gardens,
London,
14 December 1916

My Dearest
I am writing to you with our own dear boy’s own fountain pen… Douglas is buried in Eastminster Cemetery in the part belonging to the Navy alongside other Lieutenants and officers who have lost their lives quite recently.

… When I arrived at Chatham on Tuesday to interview the Divisional Commander… I was about an hour there and had read to me… extracts from the Admiralty Court of Inquiry, which deals with all accidents. It was then that I first learned that Douglas was accidentally killed. Gradually facts trickled out and I began to understand but it was not till I met at the funeral some of his Brother officers from Westgate that I could piece most of the story together. Even yet there are many things I want to know and I am going to stay on for a few days, and on one of them… I shall go to Westgate and see the men who knew him…

EYES OF THE ARMY: The Life and Letters of World War I Aerial Observer Lt. Mortimer M. Lawrence

December 14, 1917
Friday

Dear Mother:-

This is some winter day. It began to snow yesterday afternoon and kept it up till almost midnight, the last part was almost sleet. So we have six inches of snow with heavy crust and it sure does look pretty.

The weather too is quite a bit warmer which makes things more comfortable.

I went over to the Western Union office at Hempstead yesterday afternoon and got the money O.K. Thank Father for sending it to me.

Everything is changed now and we will very likely get our commissions here. It seems that the old fossils at Fort Sill got our papers, etc into an awful mix-up. Now they have had to wire everything to Washington in new form and we stand some change of getting something. Here’s hoping.

In that case I would like to get a complete outfit before I leave America. To do that I’ll need about $300.00 more as everything is awfully expensive. I don’t want Father to try to get this money for me if it is going to cramp him, but if he can make arrangements to get this money at the bank I will allot to him $66.67 per month out of my pay. That means that about the first of every month he will receive a Gov’t check for $66.67. Please let me know if that is satisfactory and if Father can get me the money on those terms without too much trouble. Of course I would expect to stand all expense, such as interest, incident to obtaining this money.

I received your night letter yesterday. Thank you for doing all I asked. Please send me my Masonic receipt as I may want it.

I have your letters of the 9th & 11th. Thank you for the enclosed bill.

Don’t worry about my comfort, for we have winter uniforms and everything else and are fine.

If you really insist on giving me something for Christmas I know of nothing better than a wrist watch. These Ingersolls are not reliable. A good watch will cost from $12.00 to $15.00 but if you do want to give me a watch let the whole family do it together and don’t give me anything else for that is too expensive a gift for any one of you.

I hope the O.E.S. reelected you, that is if you want it.

Yes the papers come O.K. and I certainly enjoy them. Thank you for sending them. The Tribune editorial was very good.

Yes my sweater is very warm and I really have all I need in clothes unless I am commissioned.

I hope you are all well. Thank you for all you do for me, I sure am a lucky guy. Lots of love.

Mortimer.

WVM Curator: Apparently fed up with his Ingersoll (he may or may not have owned their famous Dollar Watch), Mortimer mentions a desire for a wrist watch for Christmas. Interestingly enough, prior to World War I, pocket watches were still the normal in American society. While wrist watches were certainly not uncommon, they had a somewhat more limited appeal given the perception that pocket watches were a mark of masculinity and establishment. This changed with the onset of World War I. Soldiers fighting in the trenches of Europe came to appreciate the pragmatic qualities of the wrist watch as they allowed one to determine the time while keeping their hands free. This was invaluable to soldiers who needed the ability to use their hands at a moments notice to fire a rifle, manipulate machinery, etc. Given their use by soldiers, the wrist watch quickly became associated with many soldierly characteristics--strength, bravery, and masculinity--forever changing their perception. Sales of wrist watches increased exponentially during and after World War I, largely becoming the norm in American society.

Well here I am in Cairo again, for two nights, coming from Akaba via Jerusalem. I was in fortune, getting to Jerusalem just in time for the official entry of General Allenby. It was impressive in its way - no show, but an accompaniment of machine gun and anti-aircraft fire, with aeroplanes circling over us continually. Jerusalem has not been taken for so long: nor has it ever fallen so tamely before. These modern wars of large armies and long-range weapons are quite unfitted for the historic battlefields.

I wrote to you last from Azrak, about the time we blew up Jemal Pasha, and let him slip away from us. After that I stayed for ten days or so there, and then rode down to Akaba in 3 days: good going, tell Arnie: none of his old horses would do so much as my old camel.

At Akaba I had a few days motoring, prospecting the hills and valleys for a way Eastward for our cars: and then came up to H.Q. to see the authorities and learn the news-to-be.

Tomorrow I go off again to Akaba, for a run towards Jauf, if you know where that is. Mother will be amused to learn that they are going to send me to England for a few days in the spring, if all works well till then: so this is my last trip, possibly. Don't bank on it, as the situation out here is full of surprise turns, and my finger is one of those helping to mix the pie. An odd life, but it pleases me, on the whole.

I got that little cloak all well - many thanks; the Near East used to make all these wonderful things, but the interruption of trade routes and the call of military service hamper it now, and one's needs are every day more and more difficult to meet. I'm an Emir of sorts, and have to live up to the title.

I see Arnie is getting slowly up the obstacles of many exams. They are silly things, terrible to the conscientious, but profitable to the one who can display his goods to effect, without leaving holes visible. As real tests they are illusory. So long as you can read good books in the languages they effect, that's enough for education: but it adds greatly to your pleasure if you have memory enough to remember the why and wherefore of the waxing and waning of peoples, and to trace the slow washing up and down of event upon event. In that way I think history is the only knowledge of the easy man. It seems to me that is enough of didactic.

Mr. Hogarth is here in Cairo, acting as our base of information. He is one of the people whom the Arabs would have great difficulty in doing without. The blank in knowledge when he goes back to England is always great. Pirie-Gordon is coming out, to write popular articles on the Arab war for the home papers - so soon you will know all about it. Secrecy was necessary while the fight was a life and death one in the Hejaz: but since the opening of Akaba the stress has been eased, and today we are as comfortable as any front. As public sympathy is desirable, we must try and enlist on our side a favourable press. Arnie will be content, but must take it as said that it was quite impossible before. This show of ours began with all against it, and has had first to make itself acceptable to the elect. They converted, we can afford to appeal to a wider circle. It is not much use trying, with a J pen, to tell you how we are going to do it.

Many thanks to Father for investing that cheque of mine. When I stay out in Arabia for months on end I spend comparatively little, for the Government buys my camels, and the Sherif pays the men. I have only clothes (cheap things Arab clothes) and personal presents to pay for. On the other hand, when I get to Cairo I have many commissions, from Arab sheikhs, for things they want - and if they have been useful, or will be useful, they get them free of charge! My acquaintances are legion, or the whole population from Rabegh to Deraa, and the burden correspondingly heavy. However they have just raised my pay, by pushing me up the roll of Staff appointments. I'm now called a G.S.O.2.

The French Government has stuck another medal on to me: a croix de guerre this time. I wish they would not bother, but they never consult one before doing these things. At least I have never accepted one, and will never wear one or allow one to be conferred on me openly. One cannot do more, for these notices are published in the Press first thing, and to counter-announce that one refused it, would create more publicity than the award itself. I am afraid you will be rather disgusted, but it is not my fault, and by lying low and simply not taking the things when given me, I avoid ever really getting them. This letter should get to you about Christmas time, I suppose, as few mails have been sunk of late. That will mean that you are getting at least fortnightly letters from me, which should put off any anxiety you might otherwise feel. Mr. Hogarth of course hears of me every few days, so that his information is much fuller than anything I can ever give you.

I'm in the proud position of having kept a diary all the year 1917 to date. It is rather a brief one, consisting only of the name of the place where I sleep the night of each day: and the best thing about it is the disclosure that ten successive nights in one place is the maximum stop in the 12 months, and the roll of places slept in is about 200. This makes it not astonishing that my Arabic is nomadic!

I hope Arnie is getting on with his army subjects. It would be a useful thing to know how to drive a car, but judging from the papers there must be fewer cars in Oxford than in Akaba. He should keep an eye on the illustrated papers soon. They are going to get an occasional photograph from us, to help keep the Sherif (and Feisul above all) before the public eye. The Arab Bureau have about 500 excellent prints, and so the selection may be a good one. Some of them you will probably have already had, as I remember sending you some of the best. I'm also sending you a sheet of Hejaz 1 piastre stamps. You said you had not received any of this value. These are of course 1st edition, and are worth a good deal more than you would expect! Lady Wingate gave them to me, for of course it is impossible to find them anywhere for sale.

(...) Three weeks later Bruehl wrote to the Minister of External Affairs informing him that he had taken the Oath, filled in all the required papers and had them signed by all authorities, but still had no certificate. During this time he had been pestered by the local police and even threatened with arrest if not appearing at intervals when professional duties prevented him from doing so. To add insult to injury Keswick wrote on 14 December 1917 that Bruehl had failed to complete his naturalisation in 1892 and warned that he was liable to prosecution and internment under the War Precautions Act. (...)

http://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/bruehl.htm_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

Paul Dudley Waller played 6 times for Wales and was never on the losing side. He was a member of the Newport club, the 1909 Grand Slam winning side and toured South Africa with the 1910 Lions playing in 3 tests.

Waller stayed on in South Africa to play for Johannesburg Wanderers and when war was declared he joined the South African Heavy Artillery. He was killed in action on the 14th December 1917 and is buried at Red Cross Corner Cemetery in Beugny, France.

Training consumed the first year of the "Great War" for members of the 29th. This regimen was broken by visits from the outgoing and incoming governors during the winter, and by the aggressive efforts of General Morton to build esprit de corps. The 29th Division adopted the nickname "Blue and Gray" at Anniston. The name, probably furnished by Lt. Col. G. S. Goodale, division chief of staff, reflected the coming together of Civil War adversaries in a single organization. A division order dated 14 December 1917 directed that all vehicles carry an insignia based on the Korean symbol of Life. This design, created by Maj. James Ulio, became the first division one officially approved by the War Department and subsequently appeared as a shoulder patch.

http://www.delahunty.com/infantry/divhist1.htm_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

The United Kingdom general election of 1918 was the first to be held after the Representation of the People Act 1918, which meant it was the first United Kingdom general election in which all adult men and some women could vote. Polling was held on 14 December 1918, although the count did not begin until 28 December. The election was won by a coalition of the Conservatives under Andrew Bonar Law, most of the Liberals under David Lloyd George, and a few independent and former Labour MPs, and produced a government which retained Lloyd George as Prime Minister.

Just a month after the armistice that ended the fighting in WWI a general election was held in Britain and Ireland. Not only was this a so-called ‘khaki’ election, influenced by the feelings of the returning troops; it was also the first general election in this country in which women could vote. And not just vote – they could stand for election too.
Several women did indeed stand, but only one of them actually won her seat. It has to be remembered that according to the recently passed Representation of the People Act 1918 while men aged 21 and over could vote, women had to be 30 or more, and still had to fulfil certain property or educational qualifications.
The woman who was elected to sit in Parliament never did so: like the other 72 victorious Sinn Fein candidates Countess Constance Georgine Markiewicz did not take up her seat in London (she had won in Dublin St Patrick’s), though like many of them she had little option, being in prison at the time, in her case locked up in Holloway. Nancy Astor in 1919 would be the first woman to sit in Parliament, on December 1, following her by-election victory in the seat vacated by her husband on his elevation to the peerage.

http://www.information-britain.co.uk/famdates.php?id=811_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

Comrades, I am going to examine a couple of questions fixed for discussion today. The first concerns the international situation and the second our attitude to the petty-bourgeois democratic parties.

First a few words about the international situation. As you know, the British, French and American imperialists have declared a grand campaign against the Russian Soviet Republic. These imperialists are carrying on agitation against Russia among their workers, accusing the Bolsheviks of flouting the majority and being propped up by a minority. Since the vast majority of papers in France and Britain belong to the bourgeoisie, these lies against the Soviet Government spread quickly and freely. That is why it is not worth even bothering about such a ridiculous and crude story that the Bolsheviks are backed by the minority of the people in Russia. It is a story that is not even worth refuting because everyone who knows anything about what is going on here realises how ridiculous it is. Yet when you look at the British, French and American papers—and, by the way, we only get the bourgeois papers here—you see the bourgeoisie are still spreading these tales.

Lees verder op http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1918/dec/14.htm_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

On the ninth of November, workers and soldiers smashed the old German regime. The Prussian saber’s mania of world rule had bled to death on the battlefields of France. The gang of criminals who sparked a worldwide conflagration and drove Germany into an ocean of blood had come to the end of its rope. The people – betrayed for four years, having forgotten culture, honesty, and humanity in the service of the Moloch, available for every obscene deed – awoke from its four-year long paralysis, only to face the abyss.

On the 9th of November, the German proletariat rose up to throw off the shameful yoke. The Hohenzollerns were driven out; workers’ and soldiers’ councils were elected.

But the Hohenzollerns were no more than the front men of the imperialist bourgeoisie and of the Junkers. The class rule of the bourgeoisie is the real criminal responsible for the World War, in Germany as in France, in Russia as in England, in Europe as in America. The capitalists of all nations are the real instigators of the mass murder. International capital is the insatiable god Baal, into whose bloody maw millions upon millions of steaming human sacrifices are thrown.

The World War confronts society with the choice: either continuation of capitalism, new wars, and imminent decline into chaos and anarchy, or abolition of capitalist exploitation.

With the conclusion of world war, the class rule of the bourgeoisie has forfeited its right to existence. It is no longer capable of leading society out of the terrible economic collapse which the imperialist spammer has left in its wake.

Means of production have been destroyed on a monstrous scale. Millions of able workers, the finest and strongest sons of the working class, slaughtered. Awaiting the survivors’ return stands the leering misery of unemployment. Famine and disease threaten to sap the strength of the people at its root. The financial bankruptcy of the state, due to the monstrous burdens of the war debt, is inevitable.

Out of all this bloody confusion, this yawning abyss, there is no help, no escape, no rescue other than socialism. Only the revolution of the world proletariat can bring order into this chaos, can bring work and bread for all, can end the reciprocal slaughter of the peoples, can restore peace, freedom, true culture to this martyred humanity. Down with the wage system! That is the slogan of the hour! Instead of wage labor and class rule there must be collective labor. The means of production must cease to be the monopoly of a single class; they must become the common property of all. No more exploiters and exploited! Planned production and distribution of the product in the common interest. Abolition not only of the contemporary mode of production, mere exploitation and robbery, but equally of contemporary commerce, mere fraud.

In place of the employers and their wage slaves, free working comrades! Labor as nobody’s torture, because everybody’s duty! A human and honorable life for all who do their social duty. Hunger no longer the curse of labor, but the scourge of idleness!

Only in such a society are national hatred and servitude uprooted. Only when such a society has become reality will the earth no more be stained by murder. Only then can it be said: This war was the last.

In this hour, socialism is the only salvation for humanity. The words of the Communist Manifesto flare like a fiery menetekel above the crumbling bastions of capitalist society:

Lees verder op http://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1918/12/14.htm_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

Reproduced below are extracts from Philip Gibbs' newspaper accounts detailing the entry of British troops across the German border following the armistice, and their consequent occupation of Malmedy and Cologne.

Gibbs noted that although the British were generally received by the general German populace in silence there was little evidence of hostility.

Philip Gibbs on the Allied Occupation of the Rhineland, 14 December 1918

Report from Cologne

This morning at 10 o'clock our cavalry passed through the streets of Cologne, crossed the Hohenzollern Bridge, and went beyond the Rhine to take possession of the bridgeheads.

For some days not many British soldiers had been seen in the City of Cologne, the troops being camped in the outskirts, and it was only yesterday afternoon that the British Governor made his entry and established his headquarters in one of the hotels which had been taken over for the purpose.

Crowds of German people gathered to see the man who will control their way of life during the British occupation, and were kept back in a hollow square by their own police when the Governor's motor car drove in with an escort of lancers, while a band of Scottish pipers played a greeting.

This morning the passing of the cavalry over the Rhine was an impressive sight for all the people of Cologne, and for the British was another historical episode on the long journey of this war, which has led at last to this river flowing now behind the British lines.

To the German people the Rhine is the very river of their life, and down its tide come drifting all the ghost memories of their race, and its water is sacred to them as the fount from which their national legends, their old folk songs, and the sentiment that lies deep in their hearts have come forth in abundance.

In military history the Rhine has been their last line of defence, the moat around the keep of German strength; so today when British troops rode across the bridge and passed beyond the Rhine to further outposts it was the supreme sign of victory for them and of German defeat.

In November 1918 after 123 years of partitions Poland regained independence thanks to effort of many generations of polish patriots fighting in Dąbrowski`s Legions, insurrections and Piłsudski`s army. It wouldn`t be possible without all the polish soldiers giving their lives in all fronts of WWI. The history of polish army is inseparably connected with the history of polish state. Together with rebirth of statehood structures of army and its institutions were formed.

The idea of creating military archive arose before 1918. After many reorganizations on the 14th December 1918 the Historical and Military Institute was created with its independent section - Military Archives. From that moment for 90 years archivists have been collecting, protecting and granting access to the archival materials of military provenience. Thanks to their work many priceless documents concerning history of polish army were saved.

http://www.caw.wp.mil.pl/rocznica/anniversary.htm_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

Even doorklikken alstublieft... https://www.loc.gov/item/magbell.13700504/_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

Please transmit following message to Wehrhane, care Hallgarten and Company, New York:

Can ship five hundred thousand dollars gold. Must advise you that transportation from the bank to the wharf presents serious danger owing to the state of mind of the population. We are sending you statements asked for. Doctor Heraux has been appointed Minister of Finance vice Montreuil.

Although it is well-known how complex the trenching system on the Western Front became, so see stark figures about it at the time still comes as a bit of an eye-opener. A despatch from H. Warner Allen on page 4 brings this to life, after a visit to the French front. The section he visited extended laterally for just over 10 miles, but by the end of the year he reports that the French trenches in that section will run to a total of 280 miles, and this is small beer compared with another section which contains a full 450 miles of them.

In total he estimates that the Allies now have at least 10,000 miles of trenches to guard and keep in order, which is an impressive feat of engineering if nothing else, although given the experience of one paymaster and the plague of rats the article goes on to report it clearly can have its downside.

One officer was commissioned on December 14, 1915 in the 161st Huron Battalion.

STURDY, (Captain) Alfred Fenton, named his next of kin, Mrs. O.H. Sturdy, Goderich. Prior to WWI, Captain A.F. Sturdy worked with a family grocery store. While in the grocery store, Alfred Sturdy found time to take army training with the 33rd Hurons.

Enlistments – December 14, 1915

Three men enlisted on December 14, 1915 in the 161st Huron Battalion.

654015, CLUFF, (Pte.) Albert E., “D” Company enlisted at Seaforth, his home address prior to WWI. His next of kin was listed as Noble Cluff of Seaforth.

654098, STEWART, (Pte.) David Henry, bandsman, enlisted in Clinton. His next of kin was listed as being Mrs. Margaret Stewart of Seaforth. He played the bass drum in the 161st Huron military brass band and played the bass drum, and was photographed with the band at Camp Borden. Prior to his enlistment, David Henry Stewart was a member of Huron County’s 33rd Regiment.

654116, WESTCOTT, (Pte.) James Arnold, “D” Company, enlisted at Seaforth, his hometown before and after WWI. His next of kin was Mrs. Annie Wescott, Seaforth.

https://huron161st.com/2015/12/14/december-14-1915/_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

The new appeal of our enemies is not their first attempt to throw
the responsibilities of the war, which they have let loose, upon the
Entente Powers. In order to obtain the support of the German people,
who are tired of the war, the Berlin Government has many times had
recourse to fallacious words of peace, and has frequently, in order to
animate its troops, offered prospects of early peace. It had already
promised peace when Warsaw was taken and Serbia was conquered,
forgetting that such promises, if unfulfilled, would create profound
distrust.
In its further efforts, which were similar and due to the same inter-
ested considerations, the German Government was obliged to carry
this question outside Germany, and all the world recalls these attempts,
notably its ballons d'essai which were sent up in neutral countries, par-
ticularly the United States. Seeing the inanity of such methods, which
deceived no one, Germany attempted to create a peace atmosphere
which would allow her to consolidate her aggressive and Imperialist
tendencies, while sowing discord between the Allies, by seeking to
make public opinion believe that separate pourparlers were in progress
between her and the Entente Powers.
That was the period of the persistent reports of a separate peace.
Seeing, however, that the Allies rejected with strong unanimity all
these attempts, our enemies had to think of a more serious plan. They
are to-day making, in spite of their confidence in their military and
economic power, an appeal to the United States, Spain, and Switzer-
land, announcing their anxiety to enter into negotiations for peace.
The lack of sincerity and the object of the German proposal are
evident. The enemy Governments have need of heroic measures to
complete the gaps in their armies. The German Government, in order
to lift up the hearts of its people and to prepare it for fresh sacri-
fices, is striving to create a favourable atmosphere with the following
thesis: — "We are struggling for our existence. We are proposing
peace. It is refused us. Therefore, the responsibility for the continu-
ation of the war falls upon our enemies."
The object pursued by Germany is, however, clear. She speaks of
respect for the rights of other nations, but at the same time she has
already introduced in Belgium, Serbia, Montenegro, and Poland a
regime of terror and violence. As for the future, Germany has pro-
claimed the illusory independence of Poland, she proposes to divide
Serbia between Bulgaria and Austria, economically to subjugate Bel-
gium, and to cede to Bulgaria part of Roumanian territory. Every-
where the idea of the hegemony of Germany predominates, and the
latest speeches of Herr von Bethmann-Hollweg show up the true aspi-
rations of the German Government.
But to-day, when the Entente Powers have proclaimed their un-
shakable determination to continue the war to a successful end and
to prevent Germany from establishing her hegemony, no favourable
ground exists for peace negotiations. Our enemies knew of the
speeches of Mr. Lloyd George, M. Briand, Signor Boselli, and the
statement of M. Trepoff. They were therefore sure that their proposal
was unacceptable. It is so not because the Entente Powers, the friends
of peace, are not inclined that way, but because the peace offered by
Germany is a snare for public opinion. That is why the enemy Gov-
ernments carefully avoid mentioning the conditions of peace.
We are sure that this new enterprise of the disturbers of the peace
will lead no one astray, and that it is condemned to failure like
previous efforts. The Entente Powers would assume a terrible re-
sponsibility before their peoples, before all humanity, if they sus-
pended the struggle against Germany's latest attempt to profit by
the present situation to implant her hegemony in Europe. All the
innumerable sacrifices of the Allies would be nullified by a premature
peace with an enemy who is exhausted but not yet brought down.
The firm determination of the Entente Powers to continue the
war to final triumph can be weakened by no illusory proposals of the
enemy.

An annular solar eclipse occurred on December 14, 1917. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an annulus (ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. This annular eclipse is notable in that the path of annularity passed over the South Pole.

I have had two letters from you in the last two days making two grand days but they were both calling me down for not writing. I admit that I have not written every day but I have written four letters and sent you two pictures since last Sunday a week ago. I intended them to arrive on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. They were all special deliveries too. Mamma failed to get two I sent her at the same time so I suppose the whole works must be hopelessly scrambled or else they are trying to censor them all. I hope they choke if they are. I would write you if I worked night and day which I have been doing. Trying to run a regular business and be a soldier too.

They say I have the best canteen on the reservation, and every regiment has one. I declared a dividend to the Batteries of three thousand dollars last week. The regiment appointed a committee to audit me. I came out with flying colors. Even the colonel couldn't find anything wrong. The sanitary inspector came around and told me I had the cleanest place on the job too. I am looking for Mamma and Mary Saturday and I was hoping to see you too. I've almost had a real case of homesickness since Thanksgiving. I think it would be a real case if I didn't have so many things to look after down here. They don't give me time to worry about my own troubles. I was so glad to see Boxley and Ferson I could have almost hugged them. There is no doubt that I would throw a real fit if you'd come. It seems that General Wright is not in any mood for Christmas holidays for anyone.

I met him yesterday. He is a fine looking man and seems to be a very competent one. He said our Brigade was in fine shape and I shouldn't wonder if we see foreign service before long.

I spent a night in the trenches last week. It was pretty cold but not disagreeable. I went out and observed fire yesterday by the French 75. It is some gun but I think ours has some good points that it hasn't.

I had dinner with Mrs. Gates Sunday night along with Father Tiernan and Mr. Lee. It was some dinner. I helped to serve it by setting the table for Mrs. Gates. She's a grand woman.

I have found a good hard-working soldier who evidently hasn't any friends or relatives to look after him. His name is Stanley Hackinsky. He is Russian but no Jew. If your mother wants to send him something, I am sure he'd be very highly pleased. His address is Battery F, 129th F A. I hope Mrs. Bundschu comes. I want to see you so badly I don't know what to do. I am wiring you today too.

It is a dark, unwholesome French day and I am frankly homesick and very, very lonesome. Christmas is approaching and I can't possibly see those I want to and I do so wish I could. I can't even send you a present that I'm sure you'll get, not even a cablegram. This devilish place is about seven kilometers from Verdun in a patch of woods. The sun hasn't shone in I don't know how many days nor does it look as if it ever intended to shine again.

I guess it will though and I know it's shining in U.S.A. and at Nice. I am so glad you are a general. I shall always expect you to outrank me in our household and there is never any prospect of my ever being anything in the military line beyond a captain, although had the war continued, which God forbid, I should eventually have had another promotion. You tell Fred and May that I would have appreciated the major's leaves and the compliment very highly but I'd never have worn them. All promotions ceased in the A.E.F. on November 11, 1918, the greatest day in history. Personally I'd rather be a Battery commander than a brigadier general. I am virtually the dictator of the actions of 194 men and if I succeed in making them work as one, keep them healthy morally and physically, make 'em write to the mammas and sweethearts, and bring 'em all home, I shall be as nearly pleased with myself as I ever expect to be--until the one great event of my life is pulled off, which I am fondly hoping will take place immediately on my having delivered that 194 men in U.S.A. You'll have to take a leading part in that event you know and then for one great future. I've almost come to the conclusion that it's not intended for me ever to be very rich, nor very poor, and I am about convinced that that will be about the happiest state a man can be. To have the finest girl in all the whole world (and to make the statement without fear of contradiction) to share my joys and troubles, mostly joys I'm hoping, to have just enough of this world's goods to make it pleasant to try for more, to own a Ford and tour the U.S.A. and France perhaps, although I've nearly promised old Miss Liberty that she'll have to turn around to see me again, and still have a nice little country home to be comfortable in--well that's really not a hard fortune to contemplate. Maybe have a little politics and some nice little dinner parties occasionally just for good measure. How does it sound to you? Just its contemplation has almost cured me of the blues.

You know when I was a kid, say about thirteen or fourteen, I was a tremendous reader of heavy literature like Homer, Abbott's Lives, Leviticus, Isaiah, and the memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte. Then it was my ambition to make Napoleon look like a sucker and I thirsted for a West Point education so I could be one of the oppressors, as the kid said when asked why he wanted to go there. You'd never guess why I had such a wild desire and you'll laugh when I tell you. It was only so you could be the leading lady of the palace or empire or whatever it was I wanted to build. You may not believe it but my notion as to who is the best girl in the world has never changed and my military ambition has ended by having arrived at the post of centurian. That's a long way from Caesar, isn't it? Now I want to be a farmer. Can you beat it? I'm hoping you'll like the rube just as well as you would have the Napoleon. I'm sure the farmer will be the happier. . . .

You are probably bored stiff by this time but I am writing you just as I feel today. I do wish I could see you Christmas Day. I'll be thinking of you as I usually am anyway. I hope to have a better present for you next Christmas than the one I tried to send you this one. Keep on writing to one who thinks of you,

December 14, 1911 - Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first person to reach the South Pole.

December 14, 1918 - British women voted for the first time in a general election and were allowed to run for office.

December 14, 1927 - Britain recognized independent Iraq and supported Iraqi admission to the League of Nations.

http://www.historyplace.com/specials/calendar/december.htm_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

EVE OF THE POLL - THE CAMPAIGN IN THE MIDLANDS - COALITION CANDIDATES’ BRIGHT PROSPECTS

After a fortnight’s campaigning Parliamentary candidates will submit their claims to the test of the ballot to-day. The result, however, will not be known until the 28th inst., so as to give time for absent voters to record their opinion. With the unopposed return of Mr. Austen Chamberlain for West Birmingham the contests in the Birmingham divisions have been eleven in number. Here, as elsewhere, it cannot be said that they aroused anything like the interest one would have expected. In some cases candidates have addressed meetings very thinly attended, and in no division has there been anything approaching excitement. Relief from the long strain of war anxiety, with the future of the country hanging in the balance, may have accounted for the apathy witnessed so frequently. Another reason is probably that electors have found the issues confused, especially where there are triangular contests. The rival claims of candidates to being the true Coalition representative have also contributed to the bewilderment of electors whose knowledge of politics is limited. The election, however, must be a memorable one because what hangs upon it, and also because, for the first time, women have become eligible for Parliamentary honours – the natural and inevitable corollary of giving a large number of them the privilege of voting. In Birmingham the only lady candidate is Mrs. Corbett-Ashby, whose appearance in the Ladywood Division has contributed an element of novelty to the fight there. But, taken as a whole, the woman voter has not displayed that keenness in the exercise of the franchise one would have expected, and those who assert that the demand of the sex for electoral rights was urgent and insistent only in the case of a small percentage find support for that opinion in what the Birmingham contests have shown.

With the platform utterances last night the last shots were fired and final appeals made. The Coalition candidates may be said to have emerged from the battle of words with every prospect of success. Their fortunes will, of course, be varying in degree, but there seems no doubt that all will be at the head of the poll. To say “We are twelve” would be a very fine thing and a source of strength to the Government in going to the Peace Conference for terms that will show the war has not been fought in vain, and in launching the policy of reconstruction which the ravages and dislocation of that struggle have made necessary.

THE LATE SERGEANT LANCE D. NICOL - Mr. J. C. Nicol received information recently stating that his son, Sergt. L. D. Nicol, had been killed in action, on October 24th, not September 25th as stated in the first wire. A letter just received from the deceased hero dated October 18th, proves that the first given date was incorrect.

http://www.oorlogserfgoedalveringem.be/nl/14-december-1917_________________
"A grand canyon has opened up in our world, the fissure, the crack, grows wider every day. Neither on each side can hear a word that the other shrieks and nor do they want to."
-Stephen Fry on political correctness.

Act No. 17 of 14 December 1917 relating to regulations of watercourses.

Section 1. This Act applies to regulations of watercourses. Regulations of watercourses
are understood to be installations or other measures for regulating a watercourse’s rate of
flow, including expanding or altering older regulating installations. Installations or works
intended to increase the rate of flow by diverting water and pumping water to a reservoir
located at a higher elevation are likewise to be regarded as regulations of watercourses.
The Water Resources Act also applies to measures covered by this Act insofar as
separate rules are not laid down in this Act.

Pickering, Lt A McC R - Diary. Book 1. 14 December 1917 to 29 March 1918

We've not been about to find anything about Lieutenant Pickering apart from what appears in the diary. He was in the Surrey Yeomanry, also known as Queen Mary's restaurant. His brother, a fellow officer, died in combat and a copy of the 3-pp letter from his (Lt-Col) commanding officer to his wife is bound into the diary: "I had selected him and his section for special work, in what I knew was a dangerous position, because I had such great confidence in his pluck and ability."

The diary starts with a very long foreword, started on 14 December 1917 and occupying perhaps two-fifths of the unpaginated but appoximately 240 pp thread-sewn exercise book. This foreword discusses famous diaries and explains that the writer wanted to do a good job with his own diary, which then runs from 1 January to 29 March 1918. A superficial examination indicates that for the whole of this period the writer is in invalid barracks in England though trying to get reposted to the front.

The unlabelled dark-blue paper boards are rubbed and there is a small material loss at the spine ends. The contents have stood up well and Pickering's writing on ruled pages (21 lines to the page) remains clear. There is no discolouration.

The diary might attract another Pickering or a collector interested in the Surrey Yeomanry or Queen Mary's Regiment. But we have selected the lowest reserve as we cannot accurately value the item ourselves.